Innovation:

Journalism took a beating in 2016. Donald Trump was elected president, thwarting pollsters and shaking off seemingly endless fact-checking. News organizations continue to lay off journalists … Read More

One of the most invaluable tools was Geofeedia, which allowed me a draw a circle around the tarmac and airport terminal to find people posting pictures, tweets and Facebook posts. That is where I picked up the most remarkable photo of all so far -- the one tweeted out by Samsung executive David Eun.

Airliners.net

Airliners.net has a section that features photos from plane watchers who photograph planes and post them by tail number. These kinds of photos can be especially useful when you need to determine what planes look like. To find photos of the aircraft involved in the crash, search the tail number HL7742. The collection of photos includes previous photos of the same plane flying from SFO months earlier.

FlightAware

FlightAware offers minute-by-minute details of the flight and crash. Experts are looking at data from this site and saying that the plane's approach seems slightly steeper than might be expected. Of course, there will be questions about how accurate that data is or what instructions the pilot had.

What to read next

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Al Tompkins is one of America's most requested broadcast journalism and multimedia teachers and coaches. After nearly 30 years working as a reporter, photojournalist, producer, investigative reporter, head of special investigations and News Director, Tompkins joined the Poynter Institute where he is Senior Faculty for Broadcast and Online. He is the author of "Aim for the Heart" a textbook about multimedia storytelling that has been adopted by more than 100 universities worldwide. He has taught in 49 states, Canada, Egypt, Denmark, South Africa, Iceland and the Caymans.
Tompkins is the recipient of some of journalism's highest awards including The National Emmy, the Japan Prize, The American Bar Association's Silver Gavel, The Peabody (group award), 7 National Headliner Awards, The Robert F. Kennedy Award and The Iris Award. He was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame and honored with The Governor's Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Tompkins helped to author the national codes of ethics for both the National Press Photographers Association and the Radio and Television Digital News Association.